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Muslim lifeguards alter Oz stereotype

SYDNEY&ndash;A team of Muslim lifeguards &ndash; including a woman in a modest &#34;burquini&#34; &ndash; began patrols this week on a Sydney beach where frenzied race riots took place between Australia's Caucasian majority and its Midle Eastern minority in 2005.

By MERAIAH FOLEYAssociated Press

Sat., Feb. 10, 2007

SYDNEY–A team of Muslim lifeguards – including a woman in a modest "burquini" – began patrols this week on a Sydney beach where frenzied race riots took place between Australia's Caucasian majority and its Midle Eastern minority in 2005.

The violence erupted in the popular beachside neighbourhood of Cronulla, when some 5,000 mostly male, Caucasian youths launched an alcohol-fuelled rampage against anyone who looked Middle Eastern – spurred by rumours that a group of Lebanese-Australians had attacked two white lifeguards.

The Cronulla riot touched off two nights of attacks by carloads of Middle Eastern youths, shocking this city of 4 million that prided itself on being a successful multiracial melting pot.

Earlier this week, the national lifeguard association, Surf Life Saving Australia, certified a team of Muslim guards in a bid to overcome the stereotype of the bronzed, blond rescuer and promote racial unity.

With more than 24,000 kilometres of coastline, Australia has an extensive network of paid and volunteer lifeguards – easily identifiable in their regulation yellow and red uniforms.

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The Muslim lifesavers were recruited from a sporting club in the Lebanese-dominated suburb of Lakemba, in southwestern Sydney, with help from a $625,000 federal grant.

Jamal Rifi, president of the Lakemba Sports Club, said the program helped break down racial barriers and heal the rifts left by the riots.

"We were prejudiced ourselves because we always believed that Surf Life Saving, as an organization, was a closed shop, mainly for fair-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired Aussies," Rifi said. The presence of 17 volunteer lifesavers from Sydney's Lebanese community also helped break down the perception that Muslims are disengaged from mainstream Australian society.

"Through this project, we changed our view and they changed their views, and now there is a lot of friendship," he said.

Surf Life Saving Chief Executive Brett Williamson agreed, saying the new recruits and others in the pipeline would be "the best advocates for surf safety and beach harmony in their communities.''

Mecca Laa Laa, a 20-year-old Muslim student, said the program changed her life.

Because her religious convictions bar her from wearing the swimsuit typically worn by Australia's female lifeguards, Laa Laa made her debut in a specially designed two-piece suit called a ``burquini" – a play on the burqa, the head-to-toe robe worn by some Muslim women.

Laa Laa said the burquini – a pair of red Lycra leggings worn under a loose-fitting yellow tunic – let her swim freely for the first time in her life.

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